


I Find That Admirable Of You

by Shinju_Tori



Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Backstory, Cheetah Oobleck, Gen, Inspired by Fanart, Jackass Torchwick, No really he is an ass, Oobleck's POV, POV Second Person, no really
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-20
Updated: 2014-11-20
Packaged: 2018-02-21 23:52:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,918
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2486855
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shinju_Tori/pseuds/Shinju_Tori
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Professor Oobleck and Torchwick are fighting in the caverns below the city when Oobleck uncovers a secret that explains a lot about Torchwick, and yet leaves one wondering about the ginger too...</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Find That Admirable Of You

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by jay-mb's RWBY comic on tumblr (http://jay-mb.tumblr.com/post/100343691254/day-6-oobleck-roman-featuring-dumb-faunus)

You used to get scared easily, Bartholomew Oobleck.

It was, and still occasionally is, a natural thing to have an instinct to run that you simply cannot ignore. As a child you ran from trouble, from the humans that tried to hurt you or your friends in the Faunus quarter of town, from the various creatures of Grimm that seemed attracted to your fear, you ran from basically everything you could run from in more ways than one.

As you grew older, you started to fear that your feline ears would give you away as a Faunus. Nevermind the fact that since they were the ears of  _Acinonyx jubatus_ ( _a cheetah in layman's terms_ ) they were small enough that you could wear a hat to hide them easily, you were scared. So you did what you always did: You ran from trouble.

At the age of 16, a year before you went to Beacon Academy to learn how to be a Hunter, you went to a trusted friend and asked her, begged her, to cut them off. She refused at first until you reminded her that you couldn't go to Beacon if you were a Faunus.

When you enrolled the following year, you had your hair slicked back to cover the stubs left behind by your friend's blade and you took to carrying a travel mug of coffee around to hide the real reason you were so fast. Your speed and intelligence catches the attention of a boy with silvery hair and brown-green eyes named Ozpin, who introduced you to two other friends of his; Glynda Goodwitch and Peter Port.

You find Glynda overwhelmingly strict at times but she is very kind at heart while Port comes across occasionally as obnoxious but he's respectful of people who work hard no matter what their origins are. He's also smarter than he seems at a glance since it was Port that figured out that you were being bullied by some jerk who regularly stole your shoes and other uniform items you owned and hid or destroyed them around the school. Thanks to her semblence of manipulating objects using her dust infused riding crop, Glynda assists you in finding your missing things that haven't been destroyed while Port and Ozpin quickly make a fool out of your tormenter in front of the school.

( _You trust them with the truth that you are a Faunus, showing them the stubs where your ears once were and they accept you Oobleck. They accept you and you watch as it changes them for the better, you watch as it throws them further into the role of being Pro-Faunus equality._ )

You make other human friends besides them as well after that incident died down, people who agreed that your former tormenter was an ass and got what he deserved. You even make a few Faunus friends that were in hiding at the school just like you were, tucking away their tails into their pants and hiding ears or horns beneath hats, you even meet a bird Faunus who binds his beautiful white wings to his back so that he can pass as a human.

All in all, you found that you rather enjoyed attending Beacon, though not for the reasons one may expect.

You see while the rush of fighting Grimm was very intoxicating, it was...small compared to the feeling of joy as you **learned** things.

You suck information in like a sponge, learning everything there is to know about the various languages spoken throughout the kingdoms, how to identify various kinds of Grimm ( _You find that you like the Death Stalkers best because they present a challenge to even your speed_ ), and, most important to you Oobleck, you learn about history and how important knowing what happened in the past was to Hunters and Huntresses. After all those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it, fighting in endless hopeless battles that never result in anything but carnage. 

You do fight a lot of beings before you graduate, Oobleck.

You fight Anti-Faunus protesters, you fight Anti-Human protesters, you fight human criminals, you fight Grimm. Your speed becomes an asset as you dart in and bludgeon ( _and occasionally burn once you discover your semblence is making any fluid in your hands flamable_ ) the beings you fight against and you release. You fight off the battlefield as well as on it, using your words to slice apart other people's arguements that they try using against you. You find it thrilling to take the knowledge you have learned and use it against people who believe that they can stop you from helping people.

When you graduate, you aren't too shocked that Ozpin is elected to be the headmaster and that he appoints Glynda as his vice-headmistress. You are not suprised when Port comes to you and boasts that he was chosen to be the new Grimm Studies instructor. You are amazed when Ozpin calls you to his office and asks you to be Beacon's new Military & General History professor though.

You try to convince him that you are not qualified for the job he is offering you. He just smiles at you and reminds you that you were top of the class academically even if you weren't so good in solo battle situations. He adds that he could use the support in helping change the school for the better, so that all people desiring to be Hunters or Huntresses could be happy. That idea, equality for all who wanted to be Hunters and Huntresses, sways you.

You take the job, and you never look back Bartholomew Oobleck.

\---------------------------------------

For the next 20 or so years, you teach class after class about Vales' and the surrounding countries' pasts, hoping to teach them not to make the same mistakes that the Hunters and Huntresses made back in olden times. You make a large point of having at least one quarter semester spent on the subject of Faunus rights and how they are shaping the world, a little bit at a time. That's usually when your classes thin out some as students withdraw from the class often because their parents force them too.

( _You have gotten complaints from various students' parents demanding you be removed for being a White Fang sympathizer which Ozpin always quickly squashes often by pointing out those families' less than stellar treatment of Faunuses and how if they want their child to become a respected Hunter or Huntress they need to stop forcing such awful lies about Faunuses onto them_ )

Then a generation you later call the Game-Changer Generation arrives.

You observe what you and Ozpin agree to be a fighting genius in young Ruby Rose and help her improve on her belief in herself. You warily watch the daughter of one of the richest men in all of Vale for signs of cruelty, a specific cruelty that you're pleased to find that Weiss Schnee lacks. You recognize a Faunus in hiding when you see one and you latch onto Blake Belladonna, encouraging her in subtle ways to relax and not hide. You recall a firey Faunus when you were a child that Yang Xiao Long reminds you of with her devil-may-care attitude and burning semblence.

You are amused when you're assigned to them when it comes time for individual team missions.

You learn that Yang wants to learn how to think of others before herself, Blake wants the courage to stay and fight for what she believes in rather than running away, and Weiss wants to clear her family's bad reputation. You already know that Ruby wants to keep peole safe and to right the wrongs of the world.

Then Ruby goes missing.

You berate yourself for being so blind and not seeing where Torchwick's men were truly hiding when you find the sinkhole that you believe Ruby fell down. Once you and the remaining members of team RWBY are underground, you split up and search for Ruby. You don't have any luck in finding her.

You do find Torchwick instead.

There's a moment of sick surprise between you two and then you both leap into action. You recall Ozpin's warnings about Torchwick's weapon and so work hard to bat it away from you whenever you can. He's pretty fast you must admit and he knows how to use that cane of his to his advantage but you're faster and without thinking you swing your weapon like a bat, catching his jaw and knocking him back against the wall.

You watch his hat fall to the ground in almost slow motion as you register gentle grey against his firey orange hair. Dazed, Torchwick reaches up to adjust his hat and looks panicked his ears pricking up, reacting to his shock. "D-Don't look at me! D-don't come near me!" He shouts as you slowly approach him, pausing only to pick up his hat from where it had fallen and take off your own hat, letting fall with your weapon to the floor. He holds out a hand as if he's going to push you away and you gently catch his wrist and guide his and to your head.

You can see his eyes widen as you smile sadly at him and remark "I find it absolutely admirable how _**you**_ , of all people, managed to hide yours for so long." You shiver slightly as his fingers gently trace the edges of where your ears used to be. He listens quietly an unreadable look on his face as you tell him "Mine were no bigger than a cheetah's you know. But I was too scared to be seen with them so I cut them off. Only the scars are left now."

You tilt your head slightly and ask "So tell me: Why do you hate your own kind so much?" His fingers clench in your hair slightly and he opens his mouth to speak. A familiar female voice cuts through the air making Torchwick jump and tug his hand out of your grip. He snatches his hat from your hand and mutters a series of numbers. He looks at you almost hopefully before turning away and running off, shoving his hat back onto his head, over his ears.

You think over the numbers as Yang runs over to you and you say "...Ah, Miss Xiao Long!"

( _A phone number. He gave you a phone number, a private line of his perhaps? All you kow is that he sounds oddly fragile talking to you, as if he's going to break into a million pieces..._ )

She hands you your weapon and says "You dropped thi..." She raises an eyebrow at your hat on the ground and places it on your head asking "Any progress?" You respond smoothly "I'm afraid not. Thanks. You?" She shakes her head saying "Nothing. Nada. _Rien_." You sigh in mixed relief and worry.

( _Relief that Torchwick wasn't found by her and worry because Ruby was still missing_ )

Yang continues jerking a thumb over her shoulder "I haven't seen Weiss or Blake in a while. Perhaps they've found something." You nod eager to get Yang out of the area "Let's go then!" She nods and turns tail, running ahead shouting for Weiss and Blake.

You pause and look back towards the last place you saw Torchwick and sigh. You hope you can change things with him.

You turn to follow Yang and do what you have always done: run away, this time towards an interesting future... 


End file.
